Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/187

 breath of life; and man became a living soul,” Gen. ii. 7. Fourthly, grace with its operations : “Wherefore we, receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear,” Heb. xii. 28. (1) Of the world, we ought to repay Him by giving alms to the poor: “ Let it not grieve thee to bow down thine ear to the poor, and give him a friendly answer with meekness.” “ My son, defraud not the poor of his living. . . . Turn not thine eye away from the needy, and give him none occasion to curse thee,” Ecclus. iv. 1, 5. “ Get thyself the love of the congregation, and bow thy head to a great man,” Id. v. 7, Gloss. Meekness and humility are commended in these words, for the meek spurns no one; humility subjects itself to all, the Christian is bound to make himself affable and humble to equals and inferiors: “ Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty,” Ps. cxxxi. 1. (2) Of the body, we ought to repay Him by restoring it to Him free from defilement. (8) Of the mind, repay Him by following the examples of wisdom recorded in Wisdom, chap. x. (4) Of the grace, we ought to repay Him by seeking to use it to His honour: “We beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain,” 2 Cor. vi. 1. He who does not repay these debts in time will never be able to repay them in eternity, and therefore he will have to suffer torments in the place of the tormentors for ever and ever. From which may we be delivered.

The Apostle in these words teaches that the conversation of the just is in heaven ; so that if we wish to be like them we must not have our conversation about the miseries of this present life, but “ in heaven.” The Apostle here lays down three things in regard to the conversation in heaven. Firstly,